How to home school economics

The kids have been curious about money lately. I have been peppered with questions about Daddy’s work, why he goes there every day, why we need money, why some people say they can’t afford things and others can. After answering their questions repetitively over and over again (purposeful use of an unnecessary clarifier just to ram home how many times this has been asked) I decided this situation called for a little roll playing.

First up I sat down with the kids and ran through the sorts of jobs that could be done in our house. Simple little jobs like washing the dishes, mopping the floors and emptying the house bins into the council ones outside. Alanah asked if she could have the job of making everyone’s lunch so I got her to take their orders down on paper first before making the sandwiches (see look how I snuck a bit of writing and spelling in there too). I asked them to think of which jobs adults are employed in that would involve these tasks. They quite enjoyed this part of it and came up with good answers. We had people working in Hotels and hospitals, people who clean buildings and houses, the garbage collectors and people who work in restaurants (Lilly calls them all Master chefers )

Next I got them to do a couple of the jobs. Before they started I got them to ask for the jobs that they were most interested in, tying it in with the world at large by talking about applying for jobs and the interview process.

I then payed them for their completed tasks awarding them more or less coins depending on the difficulty. This worked really well they were able to finally begin to understand why some people earn more money than others and to see that it was actually fair.

Then, after their work morning was over and everyone had been payed I took them to the local Salvos to buy some Crock Plates (The kids word for breakable plates after they heard them referred to as Crockery) so that they could understand that the money you work for is mostly spent on the necessities of life. Crock plates are an absolute necessity as they prove that you are now a ‘Big Kid’ as have been begged for for a few weeks now.

This is the breakfast bowl, lunch plate and dinner plate that Alanah picked out for herself. She managed to find a rainbow flowered plate.

This is Lillian’s set. She was so proud that she found a bowl that matched her dinner plate.

These are Eli’s, did I mention he likes black.

He was also thrilled to pieces that he could see his hand through his plate. I love how their personalities have come through in their purchases.

They had to add up the prices on each item then count out their coins to make sure they had enough. Lani was shy by 50 cents but she had her heart set on the pink spotted bowl which was three dollars because it was Churchill and made in England so I let borrow 50 cents from me. Maybe we should talk about banks next???